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Pragmatic Structure in Naturally Occurring Conversations for Making Appointments

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Abstract

Conversational structure was examined by applying pragmatic and sequential analyses to two-party, single-purpose, spontaneous conversations between acquaintances. A subgoal achievement label was given to each talking turn of 60 automatically tape-recorded telephone conversations between beauty salon receptionists and clients phoning to make appointments. Lag sequential analyses showed that these conversations have subgoal structures that resemble the ones found in quasinaturalistic appointment-making conversations between strangers. The results are discussed in terms of what was predicted about the degree of generalizability from quasinaturalistic appointment-making conversations between strangers to natural appointment-making conversations between acquaintances.

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Goldthwaite, D. Pragmatic Structure in Naturally Occurring Conversations for Making Appointments. J Psycholinguist Res 26, 631–640 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025056007793

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025056007793

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